For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World : Critical Reasoning (CR)

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

26 Sep 2017, 22:27

bholakc wrote:

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

Previous case:
NN WN
50 100

Current scenrio
1> NN WN
50 +25 100-25
this scenario is our conclusion that 25 people watching WN earlier now switched to NN

other possible scenario:
2> NN WN
50 +25 100-25
In this scenario this 25 added can be new audience for NN, and the 25 removed from WN can go to any other channel or stop watching TV altogether.
3> NN WN
50 +70 100+20
In this scenario this 70 added can be new audience for WN, and the 20 added to WN also be a new audience.

(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves. : Even if WN try to improve their quality, we are not sure that we can discard scenario 1 and scenario 2 & 3 are possible. because content is also one of the criteria that attracts audience.
The quality of World News will not remain constant even if Nighttime News improves. : so what? recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News. can we prove that this is not true anymore.

(B) Negate : The programming content of Nighttime News is not more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
May be : even if The programming content of Nighttime News is not more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News, The programming content of Nighttime News = content of World News
but still scenario 1 is possible. people can switch because they like the presentation.

(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
if it is not true than it can not be the case that some people switched. Scenario 1 is not possible. Only scenario 2 or 3 possible.

Hence it weaken our conclusion that some people switched. It is just that new audience (not from WN) added into NN.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

27 Sep 2017, 01:19

bholakc wrote:

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

The answer is C

A this option is confusing if this is true then it would be true for both the programs and it does not give us any decision points .
B If this is true then why they were attracting fewer viewers so this choice is also out
C correct nighttime news made changes to their program and the content is more suitable for the viewers
D Again no information so out of scope
E this can be true or can not be

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

28 Sep 2017, 02:35

Has to be C.

Say before programming changes in nighttime news,
No of viewers

World News NightTime News Some other channels
40 30 30 = 100

Now negate C, World News viewers didn't like nighttime news programming better than world news programming, but other channels viewers liked night time programming better than other channels programming

now stand can be:
World News NightTime News Some other channels
40 50 10 = 100

Nighttime viewers increased, but the argument " the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.
" fell apart, because number of world news viewere didnt change.

So Answer C.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

08 Mar 2018, 11:27

bholakc wrote:

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

I think the answer choice C will make more sense if we argument mention that total number of viewers are same(no new viewers)are added after Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

13 Mar 2018, 12:50

I was stuck in between B and C. Then I applied the negation test on C

No World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.

So negated C breaks the conclusion down

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

09 Apr 2019, 03:03

This question is really tough.
I was able to narrow down to C and E but ended up choosing E.
C is correct because when you negate it "Some => None", the conclusion no longer holds true.
E somewhat strengthens the conclusion.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

10 Apr 2019, 08:03

In the last part author is saying " Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News." because the Nighttime News has made some changes, now here can be two assumptions,
1. some audience of World News have inclination towards the changes but World News did not have those facility so those audiences left World News and join Nighttime News
2. World News has those changes since beginning but the way Nighttime News introduces those changes attracted some audiences.

Option C clearly fills the gap by iterating the point 2.

+1 for C

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

14 Sep 2019, 21:33

Dear AjiteshArun VeritasKarishma,

I want to see your take on Option B.

Negated Option B : NNews content is not more closely (as closely or less closely) aligned with audience than WNews content.

I think the negated option B. destroys the conclusion. If the content is the same or worse even, why people switched then?

Thank you in advance!

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

24 Nov 2019, 08:25

Hi

Besides the the math treatment expounded by many experts above, we should look for a missing, unstated premise that MUST be made BEFORE the conclusion is made. Options that dwell on possibilities i.e. what could be true, stemming from AFTER the conclusion is made, would not be correct.

Here, only C is correct - to say that some viewers have switched from World News presumes SOMETHING that must happen in order for them to switch. If indeed some viewers have switched, then at least some would have preferred Nighttime News' new programming compared to World News.

Whether there are other causes as well does not matter, because say there are NO OTHER causes on the switch, it still overlooks the one main point on what must have happened in order for viewers to switch. Only C is correct.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

28 Nov 2019, 19:20

How will you falsify this question and prethink?

Can you help @payaltondon

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

09 Dec 2019, 10:25

It would have been more clear if Option C had stated "new users" or "users who switched"...
Based on current wording, Option E seems better than Option C.
***********************************************************************************************************************

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories. This cannot be even derived at. This can't be the assumption
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the [b]overall [/b]audience than is the content of World News. This is not necessary for the conclusion to hold true. It might be the case that content is same for example sports,weather but the quality of one might be better than the other.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming. Correct, This is exactly the assumption we are looking for. If this is true some of the users would switch from world news to nighttime news. Also on negating this becomes Some-> None of the users liked the nightime news programming better than world news. So why would they switch, Since it destroys the argument it is a correct choice.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
How can this be the assumption ?
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves. Does this have to be true? It might remain same, it might not, the only thing that matters is that the quality of nighttime news improve over the world news.[/quote]

B

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

14 Dec 2020, 01:48

VeritasKarishma wrote:

bholakc wrote:

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

NNews and WNews broadcast at same time (so one viewer can view only one program)
Previously: NNews Viewers < WNews viewers
Recently, NNews added sports, weather and personal interest stories.
Now: NNews Viewers = WNews Viewers

Conclusion: the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

We need an assumption for the conclusion. That is, what is necessary for the conclusion to hold?

(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.

No comparison made between 'sports and weather' and 'personal interest stories'. Irrelevant

(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.

No. Even before we start to evaluate whether it can be an assumption, note that it requires NNews content to be MORE closely aligned. At this time, both have the same number of viewers. So there is no way we need to assume that NNews content is more closely aligned. Perhaps it is aligned to the same level, we don't know. So this is not our assumption. We do not need to assume that NNews content is MORE closely aligned.

(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.

Yes, we are concluding that people switched from WNews to NNews because of new programming changes in NNews. So we are assuming that some people liked the new programming of NNews better than the WNews programming. Then it logically leads to these people switching.

(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.

This doesn't help our conclusion at all. So not an assumption.

(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

Not an assumption. We don't need to make any assumptions about WNews's quality. Even if the quality of WNews programmes is better too, people could have still switched to NNews for their new programming.

Answer (C)

For E, isn't there a case for quality ? Like if the quality at WWNews dropped that was what convinced viewers to switch to NNews rather than NNews' own new programmes ? so this option rules out the possibility of WWNews' quality going down and rather solidifying that NNews' new programmes were better. Please explain !!!

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

15 Dec 2020, 04:15

Pranjal3107 wrote:

VeritasKarishma wrote:

bholakc wrote:

For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World News, which broadcasts its show at the same time as Nighttime News. Recently,the producers of Nighttime News added personal interest stories and increased coverage of sports and weather. The two programs no.w have a roughly equal number of viewers. Clearly, the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

Which of the following is an assumption on which the author relies?
(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.
(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.
(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.
(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.
(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

NNews and WNews broadcast at same time (so one viewer can view only one program)
Previously: NNews Viewers < WNews viewers
Recently, NNews added sports, weather and personal interest stories.
Now: NNews Viewers = WNews Viewers

Conclusion: the recent programming changes persuaded viewers to switch from World News to Nighttime News.

We need an assumption for the conclusion. That is, what is necessary for the conclusion to hold?

(A) Viewers are more interested in sports and weather than in personal interest stories.

No comparison made between 'sports and weather' and 'personal interest stories'. Irrelevant

(B) The programming content of Nighttime News is more closely aligned with the interests of the overall audience than is the content of World News.

No. Even before we start to evaluate whether it can be an assumption, note that it requires NNews content to be MORE closely aligned. At this time, both have the same number of viewers. So there is no way we need to assume that NNews content is more closely aligned. Perhaps it is aligned to the same level, we don't know. So this is not our assumption. We do not need to assume that NNews content is MORE closely aligned.

(C) Some World News viewers liked the new Nighttime News programming better than they liked the World News programming.

Yes, we are concluding that people switched from WNews to NNews because of new programming changes in NNews. So we are assuming that some people liked the new programming of NNews better than the WNews programming. Then it logically leads to these people switching.

(D) There are other possible causes for an increase in the number of viewers of Nighttime News, including a recent ad campaign that aired on many local affiliates.

This doesn't help our conclusion at all. So not an assumption.

(E) The quality of World News will remain constant even if Nighttime News improves.

Not an assumption. We don't need to make any assumptions about WNews's quality. Even if the quality of WNews programmes is better too, people could have still switched to NNews for their new programming.

Answer (C)

For E, isn't there a case for quality ? Like if the quality at WWNews dropped that was what convinced viewers to switch to NNews rather than NNews' own new programmes ? so this option rules out the possibility of WWNews' quality going down and rather solidifying that NNews' new programmes were better. Please explain !!!

E is close but we don't really know how much the quality of W news has dropped. It can drop by 0.001% (viewers might not even notice this), even that would be considered a drop. And we don't know if it has actually dropped below night time news.

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Re: For several years, Nighttime News attracted fewer viewers than World [#permalink]

17 Jan 2024, 09:45

ansh1980 wrote:

I also think that the answer should be E since the author is assuming that the changes brought in by Nighttime News attracted new viewers which implies that the World News wasn't able to dish out anything new that could retain its viewers.

Can anyone please help with the explanation ?

Thanks

In this problem under reference the author argues some of the viewers to shift from World News to Nighttime new, thereby increasing its viewership and catapult to identical level of World News. The quality of World News content is Out of Scope for this argument. Hope this helps.